4 comments:

I love how my friends are like my sisters. They encourage me. They share things about the experience of being a woman that I wouldn't know or have anyone to talk about if it weren't for them. I have three brothers and there are pretty large gaps in our ages and geography at the moment. My parents are divorced and my mom is bipolar. My sister friends make me feel less alone...in everything.

I love the sharing of thoughts and ideas. I read or listen and think, "Oh, this is new to me, something to discover, tell me more." Sometimes there are nuggets of sameness and I feel, "Oh, I am like that, also," and it feels like a hug, we are kin. Sometimes there is tension in the exchange, as in music, and more exchange resolves it in unexpected ways. I learn more of the other; I reveal more of myself. I feel known and accepted. I know more and accept more. I am enriched and my heart made larger because the other is now in it. This, endlessly, and I learn and love more. Finally, I can only say, "we . ." for we are together here in this world.

One thing I've thought of, in terms of romantic relationships, is touch. And I mean non-sexual touch--the brushes against your cheek, the hand on your arm or back or hip for just a fleeting moment, the tug on a strand of your hair--all those things that make you feel like the other person treasures you.

I love learning new things about them and about myself, and about the world in general. I love making connections, with other people and with the people they know, but also between events and ideas and pretty much everything.

I love how in a good relationship, it's synergistic and everyone comes out of it feeling powerful and amazing.

I also like how even bad relationships can be a source of power and learning.